David wen avatar
David Wen
Entrepreneur, software developer, management consultant. He prefers appetizers to drinks.
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What’d Ya Learn at School Today?

What’s something you’d never expect to do in the middle of a university Commerce class?

A. Drink coffee and eat cookies;
B. Think about how cool it would be to be a drummer;
C. Recite a Chinese poem out loud; or,
D. Find a secret note inside a pen from a bank.

So lately I’ve gotten into a habit of reading Time and Bloomberg during the meals that I eat alone. By the way, eating with one hand is a skill I just might put on my resume. Maybe under “Relevant skills”. Or “Leadership”… I’m pretty sure some people were copying me.

Anyways, I especially enjoy the time after when I can drink coffee and eat cookies (Ha! Answer A is incorrect). I did that today after going to an info session, where Rick McCreary, an investment banking Managing Director at CIBC, told me that playing drums as part of a band was what taught him the most useful skills that he now uses in his career (X for B as well). In all seriousness, it was a rather insightful comment by Rick. I was also highly impressed with the free pens they gave out – you pull on this tag and a cool note slides out talking about how great it is to work at CIBC (sorry for the D-pickers!).

The right answer is this. In my “Doing Business in the Asia-Pacific Rim” course, we briefly delved into the history of China and its various influencers, including the famous poet Li Bai.  After reading an awkward English translation of it, a fellow student asked if the Professor could read the real version in Mandarin.  Professor Bu, who always likes to make things interesting, asked for a student to recite it.  The thing is, what was showing on the PowerPoint was a highly-calligraphic version that looked like an energetic slug jumped in some ink and had itself a good time on paper.  What I’m trying to say is, I ended up reciting Li Bai’s famous “Quiet Night Thoughts” from memory.  Now I just have to try and find my kindergarten teacher from Taiwan on Facebook and make her proud.

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David wen avatar
David Wen
Entrepreneur, software developer, management consultant. He has an immense Nerf Gun collection.